
United States President Barack Obama addressed American leaders in the meeting currently taking place in the City of Panama praising the diplomatic rapprochement between Washington and Cuba which he called “a new beginning” in the bilateral relation.

Cuban President Raul Castro was received with a standing ovation as he readied to address the VII Summit of the Americas, held in Panama City, in a historic presentation. The Caribbean leader stressed the importance of the rapprochement with the United States but questioned the US policy towards Venezuela.

US President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro on Friday shook hands and sat near each other at the historic Panama Summit of the Americas, a new milestone in efforts to shed decades of animosity. Obama and Castro greeted each other as UN chief Ban Ki-moon looked on, before taking their seats with other regional leaders at a Panama City convention center.

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, will provide homes to six former detainees of the US military prison in Guantanamo who have struggled to resettle in Uruguay, the country`s President said on Friday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez have held talks, in the highest level meeting between the two countries in more than half a century. The two were involved in closed-door discussions after arriving in Panama for a summit.

By Luke Coffey and Nile Gardiner, Ph. D. (*)
The Organization of American States (OAS) will hold the seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama, on April 10–11, 2015. In the past, Canada has been alone in supporting the Falkland Islanders’ right of self-determination in the OAS.

President Barack Obama will attend a Summit of the Americas in Panama this week, a gathering that could see the first substantive meeting between US and Cuban leaders in half a century.

The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) is warning vacation and business travelers to the Caribbean about the importance of protecting themselves from mosquitoes that may transmit Chikungunya virus and other mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue.

California Governor Jerry Brown, acting in the face of a devastating multiyear drought, ordered the first statewide mandatory water restrictions this week, directing cities and communities to reduce usage by 25%.

US economic growth cooled in the fourth quarter as previously reported and after-tax corporate profits took a hit from a strong dollar, which could undermine future business spending. GDP expanded at a 2.2% annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its third estimate of GDP. That was unrevised from the forecast the government published last month.